Lehigh, Lafayette helping Patriot League gain respect

Only 15 FCS schools remain undefeated and two of them are in the Lehigh Valley.

September 26, 2012|By Keith Groller, Of The Morning Call

With the final Saturday of September approaching, there are just 15 unbeaten teams left in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) classification, and two of them are in the Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh and Lafayette are both undefeated and highlight an outstanding start by Patriot League members in general.

Lafayette can go to 4-0 for the first time since 1988 with a win at Robert Morris on Saturday, while Lehigh is off to its best start since it won its first 11 games in 2001.

Patriot League teams are 14-9 in non-conference games (.608 percentage), tops in the country among FCS leagues.

"That's all good news, and with the recruiting initiative that we've begun [scholarships], there's no doubt our league is going to be more respected on the national level," said Lehigh coach Andy Coen. "Come playoff time you know that the CAA schools who go 7-4 are going to get into the playoffs because of the respect their league gets. The Patriot League has only gotten its champion into the playoffs."

Solid non-conference records could bode well for the league runner up to qualify for the postseason.

"Obviously, I'd love to win the league championship, but for our league to get that kind of reputation where we could get a second team into the playoffs would be outstanding," Coen said. "That's what I envision happening down the road, but to hear good statistics like we've heard so far this year certainly helps everybody."

The Patriot League is still 1-3 against the CAA, but 5-3 against the Ivy League and 4-1 against the Northeast Conference.

For the most part, Patriot members have been respectable even in defeat, with five of the nine non-conference losses coming by 10 points or fewer. Holy Cross has a pair of three-point setbacks.

PASSING FANCY

Old Dominion quarterback Taylor Heinicke continues to be the talk of FCS football after his record-breaking 730-yard, five-touchdown performance on Saturday against New Hampshire.

To put that in perspective, just two Patriot League quarterbacks — Lehigh's Michael Colvin (941) and Fordham's Ryan Higgins (790) — have thrown for more than 730 yards so this season.

The league has yet to have a 300-yard passing performance this season, although it has had 11 100-yard rushing performances — three by Fordham's Carlton Koonce.

Heinicke is just a sophomore and Saturday was only his 13th career game, yet he has already thrown for 44 touchdowns.

Some are mentioning him as a Heisman Trophy candidate, although at his current pace he's much more likely to win the Walter Payton Award, which is the FCS version of the Heisman.

Old Dominion, by the way, just restarted its football program in 2009, going 33-8 since then. This is the Monarchs' final year at the FCS level. They are heading to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Conference USA.

This week, Heinicke and ODU face Richmond, where the opposing quarterback will be John Laub, a Parkland graduate and the brother of Lehigh freshman linebacker Matt Laub.

STAT STUFF

Lafayette remains No. 1 in the country in interceptions (10) and second in turnovers gained (13). … Fordham's Carlton Koonce is fifth in the country in rushing yards per game (152.0) and Georgetown's Robert McCabe leads the nation with 13.75 tackles per game. … Lafayette's Shane Dorner is fourth nationally in sacks per game (1.33).

CALLING CARLTON

Koonce, the league's top rusher, tied the Patriot League record for longest scoring run on Saturday with his 92-yarder against Columbia. He now shares the record with two past Lehigh greats — Ronald Jean, who had a 92-yard scoring dash for the Mountain Hawks in 1998, and Rabih Abdullah, who went 92 in 1994.

PATRIOT STANDINGS

Team, PL, Overall, PF, PA, Streak

Lafayette,1-0,3-0,65,49,W3

Lehigh,0-0,4-0,107,71,W4

Georgetown,0-0,3-1,90,68,W1

Colgate,0-0,1-3,110,117,L1

Holy Cross,0-0,0-3,48,75,L3

Bucknell,0-1,1-2,36,56,L2

*Fordham,0-0,3-1,12,68,W1

*Fordham is still considered a league member, but is ineligible for the league title and its games against league opponents do not count in the league standings.